It seems to me that many people are looking at the next expansion, Mist of Pandaria, as a nice little piece of fluff that signals that Blizzard has lost its edge and catering to the “casual” player. That the Pandaren storyline is not relevent to the overall theme of World of Warcraft.

Many view the Pandarans like this:

While I choose to want/view Pandarans as this:

Truth is, this is SUPPOSED TO BE the CALM before the storm of WAR.

Think about it. You can’t fire a weapon forever. It has to cool down sometime. Maybe even get some maintenance. So those of you out there that think Mist of Pandaria is just some fluff should look at it as sort of a cool down before jumping back into action. Sure, the landscape is majestic and pretty, but keep playing and you will eventually zone into some action. Not to mention that the Monk Panda has some pretty nice animated moves so far!

With the exception of Vanilla WoW, Horde and Alliance HAD to work together. The villans were so powerful, it required cooperation of both opposing factions.

In some ways, it seemed kinda stupid though. I mean Horde and Alliance needed to work together to stop the Evil Threat but they still continued to fight with each other. How do you join forces against a common enemy when you continue to create casualties on both sides?

My point is this – You can’t constantly be in a state of Conflict.

EVENTUALLY there is a time of PEACE or at least recovery before the next big Battle or War.

The world did not go DIRECTLY into World War II the day after World War I.

A Heavyweight Champion does not schedule another Title Fight the day after he wins his current title.

Mist of Pandaria is supposed to provide that needed break to get ready for the next big conflict. Not for the Horde or Alliance, but for the subscribers.

As a veteran player you had to gear up to fight the Burning Legion and Illidan or try to get to Sunwell. Then there was the constant gearing up for ICC and eventually the Lich King. Deathwing throws a tantrum and messes up everything – now we have to kick his arse! From a linear point of view, it seems never-ending. No humanoid species can endure that constant barrage of conflict and threat. (well, except the undead)

In Mist of Pandaria, we get back to the time when there was no supervillan to take care of. In fact, the cause of the problems on Pandaria is due to the conflict between the Horde and Alliance. The only real bad guy is the one you’ve been dying to take care of once and for all!

As a veteran WoW player, wouldn’t it be more epic to REALLY FIGHT the opposing faction as the MAIN point of this game??? I think so!

So you get a chance to see some Pandas. Learn how to be a Monk and then sway some of those Pandas to your factions agenda .

Everyone picks sides and then we go at it! Yes! Finally!

Only problem, there are several other native races out there to deal with at the same time and THEN you have to deal with some misty manifestation of Evil (the Sha) causing problems while you’re trying to get all that done! Fantastic! Hope you all had your Orange Juice!!

The Sha which turns out to be the manifestation of negative energy. Initial concept drawings give the impression that they are like Void Walkers. I haven’t seen any additional pictures of them outside of BlizzCon, so it will be interesting seeing what the final animation will look like in the Beta and Live games.

But take heart! You get to make some native friends to help you out!

If you are Alliance, you have partnered up with the Hozu.

If you are Horde, you have hooked up with the Jinyu.

Along the way you have the nuisance of the Verming. (Who I would already like to kill by the thousands)

The Mantid, which is a sentient insect like creature, doesn’t look like their on the list of friendlies.

And the Mogu look like they have a bad attitude to start with!

There you have it! You get all involved in your faction’s war against the other and you have little mutant rabbits and insectoids and people with bad attitudes to deal with IN ADDITION to some Evil Manifestation sneaking up on you when you’re not looking …Great!

So that is WHY you need to have Pandas! A little calm and comic relief to enjoy before the next War!

Well its been a while since BlizzCon, and I’m still putting thoughts together about the upcoming expansion.

I guess it was the fact that, for three days, I was right in the middle of two of the happiest places in the world – Disney Land and BlizzCon!

Today, I want to give anyone who graces my blog my opinion on the Mist of Pandaria and it’s starting zone.

I know a lot of people think that Pandas in World of Warcraft are a step back for the franchise.

I can see the so-called “hardcore” players saying that. After all, Pandas are cute, right? I mean, I like Jack Black, but he’s only gonna kick a lot of Arse because it’s written in the script.

But to me, there is something so cool about a Beer-Bellied Bear that can whip some Arse then sit down with you and have a brew!!! Its like – “Lets see what you got . . . ok good . . Lets have a drink!

Reminds me of a time when I took the Physical Agility portion of the Police Exam. In my group of applicants were some strong contenders from the looks of them. Now, I’m no runner type and I certainly don’t have a runners body. But my group was sent off to attempt the 2 mile run portion of the exam. I noticed one other guy in the group that I think weighed in at 300+ lbs. We’ll call him Mr. Panda. In fact, I think he was pretty much shaped like a Panda. (but a little rounder)

We lined up at the starting line and ready, set , go! Some of my group shot down the coarse like they were being chased by Deathwing or something. Some of us (me) were pacing ourselves. There is a time limit on the run, but you don’t get any medal for the fastest time. So I paced myself to make it a few seconds under the mark.

Since most of the group has run past me, I’m gonna stay near 300lb guy, cause he was keeping a good pace. He looked like he was gonna pass out any second . . . but he’s keeping a good pace.

MY PLAN was to stay with this guy and sprint the last 500 feet to make myself look good. (don’t judge me!) Leaving Mr. Panda in the dust. Well . . Mr. Panda picked up the pace considerably! (He apparently had the same plan) It took all I had to beat that guy to the finish line. In the end, everyone (including me) had a deeper respect for this guy, cause we all judged him on his looks. However, he MORE than exceeded our expectations!

I think Mist of Pandaria will do the same!

Ready? . . . Set . . . GO GO GO GO GO GO!!!

I had the privilege of playing the Mist of Pandaria demo at BlizzCon and it was much fun and very amusing.

It has been a while since I have seen so many people in a starting zone. I only wish I had tried to whisper someone and ask that person to stand up for a second so I could see how close or far from me they were. Don’t even know if you COULD do that, because I was so into playing the toon.

The Character Screen is familiar and it being a Mist of Pandaria demo, it only showed your beginning Panda with the available classes for your black and white bear.

I wish I could say I was smart enough to have rolled a Monk right off the bat. Habit had me pick a name (Zaren), choose a class, (Warrior) and hit GO!

Even though my first Pandarian was not a monk, it was fun running around completing quest and exploring the starting zone. My level One Warrior owned all foes that he came up against! Unfortunately, I wasn’t focused and only leveled to level 3 during the twenty-minute period that we were allowed to play. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and quickly got back in line to roll a monk.

OK! Made my Pandarian Monk, (Zaren) and got my first quest and quickly donned my weapon and moved on to the next quest.

The Starting Zone was very bright and Oriental in nature. The Main Temple was fun to run through although it took me a while to find the scrolls that I needed. Remember there are at least a hundred other people crammed into this zone picking up the needed items.

As I progressed, I had to fight several NPCs to complete the quest I was on. This being a Demo, most of the NPCs looked alike. (not being prejudice) It was funny, however, that the female Panda looked the same, but had a subtext that said, “I’m A Girl!” Nice! 🙂

Again with all the players in the same zone completing the same quest, it took a while to fight the correct number of NPCs. You really have to get that first hit in quick, because another player would roll over to the NPC you want to fight and tag it before you even get to the NPC. Mission accomplished! On to the next quest! Slowly but surely, you make your way away from the Temple to complete other objectives. Over all it was extremely fun and I can’t wait to have my permanent Pandarian!

Some of the zones felt a little vague and incomplete, but what could you expect as the expansion was just announced earlier that day? I’m sure all of this stuff will change by the Beta and again when it goes live. Even so, I can’t wait to try it all out.

A lot of bloggers and fan sites are currently talking about talents, but I think it’s way too early to put that much attention to them. As with Beta everything changes prior to LIVE.

Whether you think Pandas are silly and should not be a part of WoW Lore or you can’t wait to play these bouncy guys, you will enjoy seeing their story unfold and be interested how the developers and historians work this idea into the current game.

Is it just me or does this one look like it was inspired by Dr. Seuss?

More BlizzCon pictures from the seat of the Ice Throne! If only my toilet was built like this!!

Between my cell phone and camera, I am still finding pics that I took at BlizzCon 2011.

Goblin Engineers are everywhere

There was a wall to write your name on that was later defaced by some guild or player that covered up a majority of names. A second wall was made available later and my wife and I got our names up on that one also!

Luckly, Zaren, (next to Stap) managed to find a spot on the original wall out of the way of taggers that wanted to monopolize wall space.

My Lovely Wife (Princess!) managed to find a spot on the wall also!

Some fantastic artwork donned the floor of Blizzcon!

I wouldn’t want to see this guy coming full speed towards me . . ever!

An awesome statue of “Tyrael” from Diablo.

I’ve said it before . . . Dranaei chicks are hot!

It wasn’t REALLY warm that day, but Dude HAD TO BE SWEATING in this thing!

She was just HOT! Mmmmmm!

My first Blizzcon was very awesome!

It was nice to be in a place where Geeks and Nerds could just be Geeks and Nerds! We Owned the Streets during those days!! NO ONE was gonna mess with us!!

Coming from Chicago, I get different vibes about places I visit in my travels. Anaheim, California felt very safe and relaxed to walk around in.

I dare say that even if trouble were to befall convention goers there in Anaheim, Horde would help out Alliance and Visa Versa.

“The Ethereals, emerging from the nether, will bring with them a new technology they call Transmogrification. They’re heading to the capital cities of Azeroth to set up shop and to offer adventurers a unique service — copying the appearance of one magical item onto another. They only ask for a modest gold donation to recoup their costs.”

“Visiting a Transmogrifier will present players with a new interface that will allow them to change the appearance of an item while retaining its original stats. “

I like the idea of changing my armor to look like an armor set I previously loved but with the stats for the current level of gear I am wearing.

Putting the old stats and bonuses aside, I loved the color, the skulls and animation that this tier 3 set for Warriors had.

Unfortunately, I didn’t do any real Raiding until after the realsease of The Burning Crusade expansion. I wished I could form a raid with my alt and just solo what I needed, but alas, my Warrior, Zaren, would never have the honor of wearing the Dreadnaught Battlegear!

With the release of Wrath and Naxxramas moving to Northrend, a friend told me that there would be a Dreadnaught set available. I was estatic!! Zaren was at the appropriate level for the content and in a guild that was ready to run Nax! JOY!!!

Alas, it would not be the same. The Dreadnaught’ Battlegear had much better stats, but it’s animation and styling seemed watered down. (to me at least)

IN comes Transmogrification! Now I can make my current set look like Dreadnaught . . .

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

You have to HAVE in your possession the gear that you want your current gear to look like???? AAARRRGGHHH!

Anyway it probably will be a good option for a horder that has several sets of gear clogging up his/her bank. 🙂 I used to be that way too! All through Burning Crusade, and Wrath, I had several gear sets that I kept for sentimental reasons I guess. Besides, I spent WAY too much time and effort to get them, can’t cash them in, and did not plan to delete them.

Until Cataclysm came. New talent trees, new mechanics, new stat weights. . . seemed like I would never wear my old gear sets ever again. So I deleted them! 😦

Who knew Blizzard would come up with this idea AND JUST AFTER I deleted my old gear sets???

Blizzard used to cling to the silhouette theory that you can’t change the cosmetic look of your gear because you should be able to identify a character’s class and race by the silhouette of said player’s gear. Now they’ve thrown that out the window essentially!

Well, I guess I can craft an Imperial Plate Armor set, grab my Aegis of Stormwind Shield from my bank along with my Stormwind Tabard and walk around Stormwind pretending to be a Stormwind Troop. Could be interesting in a dungeon especially on the Horde side! 🙂

I personally would like an advanced version of Character Creation/Editing.

This way, I can customize my characters body features and dimensions.

And NO, I would not be the guy that would want the slide bar for “Chest” and then make all my female characters Double D Bimbos. . . hmmm . .

SHE IS NOT A BIMBO! I JUST REALLY LIKE GO DADDY!

🙂

I would also REALLY like to be able to change the color of my gear rather than make it look like an old gear set I used to have. And yes, I would make all my gear Black . . . cause it’s cool!

But I guess beggars can’t be choosers! And with Blizzard Entertainment I guess the formula for change is to complain about something for years and eventually you’ll sort of get what you want! 🙂

Players will get real currency from their sales of items on the virtual auction house, and Blizzard Entertainment will get a cut of the action! Just like the Neutral Auction house gouge!

What if this system becomes so popular, it ends up a feature in World of Warcraft??

As you probably know, I don’t mind buying a mount for in-game use. However, a mount doesn’t give me the upper hand among players of my level.

Mounts operate at the speed that you have already trained for, therefore, you are only paying for a pretty new skin for your mount.

I have a problem when items that CAN give you the upper hand are traded for “real life” money.

Yeah, I have a job and if I wanted a virtual “whatever” off the AH, I would buy it gold or cash . (if I really wanted it) But I think I would enjoy said item more if I earned it.

Back in the day, I could have bought a Spectral Tiger Mount, but I chose to spend hours (day, weeks, and yes months) farming rep for my Winterspring Frostsaber. I love that mount. Even when the rep points were increased per turn in, I still appreciated that purple cat.

I think if I had enough disposable income to buy a Spectral Tiger, I would probably ride it for a short time and be bored with it. This is because I “just bought it.” like I did my Tabard of Flame. That’s been sitting in my character’s bank for the longest. (especially after the flood of available rep tabards) My Celestial Mount has been demoted to initial mounts for alts because any toon I create on those accounts automatically get one. (Besides, I didn’t like my male characters riding them)

And we know I love my Winged Guardian! But THAT mounts animation is so cool, I will probably be riding it flow a long while on my main.

But those pixels don’t change anything about my GAME or GAMING EXPERIENCE.

If game changing items are allowed to be “purchased” on real currency Auction Houses in WoW, only the kids with parents with a great job or employed loners will be able to afford them. The average player would again be left in the dust.

I guess I should look at it as a money-making opportunity. After all… all of the items that you rep grind for will eventually become de-valued as time goes by.

Well, Billy! If mommy says you’re wasting time playing you MMO, you can now tell her that you’re investing your time making REAL MONEY by selling PIXELS!!